Archive | December, 2009

The rumor mill is cranking up again with fresh new rumors about two new Motorola Android handsets being unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. According to industry analyst Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research, Motorola may announce a new Android phone for AT&T and one for Verizon Wireless, both sporting OLED screens.

Mr. Chowdhry’s sources indicate that the AT&T handset will have a physical keyboard and offer a Google software environment instead of Motorola’s MotoBlur software. The second Android handset that may be announced will be for Verizon Wireless and have a soft keyboard.

Given that Motorola is scheduled for an event on January 6th at 5:30 p.m. in Las Vegas, it could be a safe bet that we will know if this rumor is true on that date. Stay tuned.

Time to take another small detour down rumor lane — Taiwanese newspaper Digitimes reports that Orange is contracted with Foxconn International Holdings to build their very own carrier-designed handset. Their handset is expected to include Qualcomm’s 3G chipset and may ship sometime in the second quarter of 2010. If this rumor bears fruit, this new Orange handset will be offered alongside the Motorola Dext and the HTC Tattoo. It will be interesting to see what Orange comes up with given their control over the design process.

With the expected arrival of the Google Phone aka Nexus One closing in on a target release date of January 5, T-Mobile has spilled the beans on their plan for the expected launch. Through an internal system at T-Mobile, there is a vague message about an Android handset coming in the early weeks of January and their planned support for it. It’s mostly vague and not too detailed about T-Mobile’s part – they won’t offer any support unless it’s related to billing, coverage, features, and rate plans. So that means it’ll fall on both Google and HTC to offer troubleshooting and exchanges on the handset. Sources from TmoNews have reported and confirming the January 5th date with ordering commencing at 9:00 AM through Google only.

In addition, Google will be holding a special Android press event in Mountain View – most likely the Google Phone will makes it grand introduction at the event. Specific pricing information about it is still in the dark and will probably surface relatively soon.
source: Engadget and TmoNews

With all of the excitement revolving around the coming introduction of the Nexus One, two new videos have surfaced relating to the device. The first is a review by someone who claims that if a Google employee takes a picture or video of the handset, he/she will be fired. The reviewer has very positive things to say about the phone, from the speed of what he believes is the Snapdragon processor under the hood, to the “cool” background of the display. He calls the handset the best Android phone ever, running the 2.1 OS build. Later on, he says it is “The best phone that I have ever tried in my life.” The “Cool” thing he says, is that he does not have a data plan but can still activate the phone, unlike the other Android models out now. Don’t let us ruin the fun for you. Check out the rest of the review and figure out a way to get the “Golden Ticket” so you will be able to buy one at launch. The second video shows a series of still shots of the phone and follows with some demo shots that came from the Nexus One’s own camera.source: PointGPhone via AndroidandMe

One of Gizmodo’s tipsters has leaked some really juicy information concerning the Android powered Nexus One. Additionally two screenshots have been taken that clearly displays that Google will be selling it directly for an unlocked and subsidized price of $530. Lessening the blow, you can catch it for $179.99 on contract with T-Mobile on a $79.99 monthly plan that includes 500 minutes, unlimited text, and data. Current T-Mobile customers cannot keep their existing plan and require them to change to the one offered if they want to get it for the $180 price.

Other important worthy items to note is that there is a limit of 5 Nexus One phones per Google account. Finally, Google will automatically charge you $350 if you buy the phone at the subsidized price and cancel your plan before 120 days. All the talk about the Nexus One being a handset built by Google is put to rest – the term of sale states the manufacturer of the handset is HTC; not Google. According to Gizmodo, the information provided by the tipster is pretty accurate – so now you can deliberate on whether or not the Nexus One may be the right phone for you.
source: Gizmodo

One of the most anticipated programs for Android phones is Swype, which made its official debut on the Windows Mobile Samsung Omnia II earlier this month. At that time, we heard that the text entry program would be made available on other devices (including Android) in 2010. Even though we have a few days to go until Jan 1st, it appears a beta release of Swype has been leaked out and is avaliable for all you Android lovin’ users to install and try out. Just follow the directions and download link on Droidmuff and you’ll be good to go. We tried it on the Motorola DROID and didn’t have any problems using it. In fact, it worked better than on the Samsung Omnia II, since the DROID’s screen is capacitive and only requires a slight touch.
source: Droidmuff

Despite the combination of a weak economy and high priced ads, a mixture that has forced even Pepsi to sit out the Super Bowl for the first time in 20 years, Motorola has decided to show at least one ad during the big game. This info comes from Advertising Age where it is reported that the Schaumburg based firm has coughed up the money for at least one commercial. Company spokesmen are not talking. 30 seconds of air time cost $2.5-$3 million dollars. Which product(s) would Motorola center the ad campaign on? Considering what’s at stake, the heavy favorite would be the DROID especially since the Nexus One should be in the hands of the public well before the February 7th kick-off of Super Bowl 44 in Miami. For Motorola, buying a Super Bowl ad is another sign that the cellphone manufacturer has made an amazing recovery from the dead-the same recovery that everyone assumed Palm would be going through by now after the early 2009 introduction of the Palm Pre. Sales of the Pre never came close to expectations after an early June release and it was Motorola’s stunning Android 2.0 device that became the first handset able to hang with the iPhone. The DROID also was named Time Magazine’s Gadget of the Year, beating out the fourth place iPhone 3GS.

Motorola appears to be the only electronics company marketing itself during the game as the only other tech firms paying up for ads are online firms GoDaddy and HomeAway. The company has promoted phones during the Super Bowl before such as its RAZR and PEBL devices. As for the DROID’s carrier, Verizon apparently is not involved in the spots.
source: AndroidandMe

As probably all Android worshippers know, users of smartphones with the stock operating system are getting their updates regularly, but what about the ones with Sense-powered devices? Last time we reported on the matter there were just a few screenshots to give you an idea of how the new version of the interface may look like on top of the Android 2.1 OS. The file containing the software was also available, and it seems someone has decided to try it for themselves on their Teflon-coated HTC Hero. Fortunately, the curious user has also shot a short video demonstration. You can check it out below in order to see the new interface in motion. Anyone else willing to try it on their Hero? Does the new Sense UI look appeal to you?
source: AndroidSPIN via MobileTechWorld

Now, here is another piece of information we can add to our article on what we know about the HTC Nexus One – a rumor has surfaced on the Internet saying „Google´s handset” is to go on sale January 5, but only for the lucky few who have been sent invitations. As of now, it´s still unclear what you´re supposed to do to get an invite to the party, but we guess you need to be an Android software developer or something. Still, we can safely assume ordinary users will be able to buy the HTC Nexus One relatively soon afterwards, so fingers crossed.

What got leaked along with the above-mentioned information was detailed specifications of the HTC Nexus One and it seems the previous rumors hinting at certain features were true indeed. The device is expected to run Android 2.1 and come with a 3.7-inch AMOLED display and 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. There are, however, new facts like the amount of memory the HTC Nexus One will be equipped with – 512MB RAM and 512MB ROM respectively, plus Google has obviously decided to throw a 4GB microSD card into the deal to sweeten the pot. The leaked specifications also reveal the cell phone supports T-Mobile´s 3G frequencies, which sort of confirms the previous information that this is the US carrier the Nexus One will roll out through.
source: EngadgetMobile

It seems one of the things the new year is bringing along is a plethora of Android devices, because they have been popping up out of nowhere at a steady rate for quite some time now. Say, we´ve just found out about the LG LS680 by a picture coming from Sprint´s internal database. Actually, there is no other information on the new device other than it will be running Android and roll out through the said carrier. We´re guessing it will sport a large, touch-sensitive screen (like all other cell phones based on the same operating system) and, probably, hardware QWERTY keyboard. Actually, we bet $1 this is the CDMA version of the LG GW620 (none other but LG´s first Android-based handset). But that´s enough with speculations, we believe more details on the LG LS680 will turn up quite soon, plus CES 2010 is just around the corner and there is a pretty good chance that this is exactly the event where the handset will be officially announced.
source: BGR